microsoft

That deal for Mojang is going through, and Notch is leaving the company. In his announcement, Persson said,

I don't see myself as a real game developer. I make games because it's fun, and because I love games and I love to program, but I don't make games with the intention of them becoming huge hits, and I don't try to change the world. Minecraft certainly became a huge hit, and people are telling me it's changed games. I never meant for it to do either. It's certainly flattering, and to gradually get thrust into some kind of public spotlight is interesting.

As soon as this deal is finalized, I will leave Mojang and go back to doing Ludum Dares and small web experiments. If I ever accidentally make something that seems to gain traction, I'll probably abandon it immediately.

Meanwhile, Microsoft celebrates their huge acquisition in the video above.

He announced the departure via Twitter and added that he's "not yet ready to say what that new thing is… But OMG is writing code very [sic] day and exploring ideas fun!" His Twitter bio states his current project is "independent secret stuff."

If they really were to develop a gaming PC, would you be interested?

Yeah. Made to advertise the release of Internet Explorer 11 for Windows 8, the ad features a character named Inori Aizawa, a "personification of Internet Explorer," fighting off killer robots (presumably with exoskeletons made of chrome. Subtle.).

The official Inori Aizawa Facebook page describes the character as:

"When I was younger, I used to be a clumsy, slow and awkward girl.

However, just like the story of ugly duckling, people told me that I have really matured and changed over the years. I feel confident in my abilities now, and I'm eager to show you what I can do.

Why don't you get to know me a little better?"

This isn't the first ad that Microsoft has been using the styles of anime: in September, they released a three-minute short of Ghost in the Shell characters using Surfaces. Chances are that they'll be making more of these types of ads in the future.

I, for one, was disappointed that the character wasn't named Inora the Explorer, but hey, you can't win 'em all, I guess...

The internet is jumping down Microsoft's throat about trying to buy positive reviews and consideration from YouTubers, but boogie298 wants you to know this is nothing new. The video is six whole minutes long, but worth a watch if you're interested in video game reviews on YouTube.

Give their social media guy a raise or something.

A World of Keflings will be free for Xbox Live Gold members starting November 1st, followed by Iron Brigade on November 16th.

Microsoft seems ready to commit to its past as it continued reviving old franchises during Gamescom 2015 Aug. 4.

After presenters gave plenty of space to a new Forza game, a new Rainbow Six game and a new Crackdown game at the Xbox One press conference, Xbox head Phil Spencer gave a 'one more thing' to the audience in the form of announcing a sequel to 2009's Halo Wars.

If you don't remember Halo Wars, we'll forgive you. It was an odd duck of a real-time strategy game, a la StarCraft or Age of Empires. In fact, the original game was developed by Ensemble Studios, creator of the Age of Empires series.

The original Halo Wars was a cult fan favorite and remains highly regarded in certain circles, though it never reached the sales numbers of traditional FPS Halo games.

Ensemble will not develop this sequel, instead it's being handled by 343 Industries, who took over the Halo franchise after creator studio Bungie ended their exclusivity deal with Microsoft, and British game devleloper Creative Assembly, responsible for the very many Total War games.